Chapter 261: Refusing to Help, Nascent Spirit Stabilized

To be honest, when Jin Miaoshan gave him the Nether Ghost Mask, she didn't say much about the killer organization, the Demonic Asura Horde. She merely offered him explanations that would not lead to trouble, simply to allay his concerns.

This information was neither particularly extensive nor particularly scarce. Considering the other party had already visited the Sky Treasure Pavilion, the possibility of missing information was extremely low, as Sky Treasure Pavilion was in no way inferior to the Golden Full Tower. Yet, the other party still came to the Sky Demon Bone Forest to find him. He had stayed in the Sky Soul Sect ruins for quite some time. Could it be that she wasn't seeking information?

A thought suddenly struck Wang Yu, and he gazed at the other party, speaking, "What do you want me to help you with?"

"You've guessed it, Fellow Daoist. That works out well."

This charming and lovely young woman quietly explained her plan and why she was in Scarlet Kite.

"I came here to find an old acquaintance. More than a hundred years ago, when I was still young, there was a senior sister in my sect with whom I had an excellent relationship. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances, she was expelled from the sect."

Wang Yu had already guessed all this. Seeing that the other party had no intention of elaborating, he immediately lost interest.

"The Demonic Asura Horde was established by this senior sister of mine. She was determined to rescue the suffering mortals and cultivators from the lower strata of Scarlet Kite and bring them to the Taihu Spirit Realm. That's how the Demonic Asura Horde was founded."

Wang Yu's expression was strange. This was clearly the other party's self-conjectured 'truth' after combining it with the Sky Treasure Pavilion's intelligence, imbued with a strong idealistic flavor. If that were truly the case, he could only say that the organization was utterly annihilated. It's truly unwise to meddle with population movements. Over the past thousand years, Scarlet Kite has already undergone considerable changes. The population had grown from one hundred to two hundred million to over a billion, which showed that learning was indeed highly effective.

The noblewoman from Taihu continued: "My senior sister gathered a group of like-minded individuals and, under the guise of a killer organization, operated within the territory of the Joyful Demon Sect. They killed the leading demonic cultivators and then transported people back to Taihu."

The righteous and demonic realms were separated by the North-South Divide Mountains. The closest sects were the Spirit Reversal Blood Sect and the Joyful Demon Sect. The Heaven Forging Demonic Sect was actually also quite close. However, the other party clearly didn't have the guts to make a move against them.

"The plan went smoothly at first, but everything began to unravel when they killed the offspring of the Yin-Yang Demonic Lord. This shows that the lower strata on Scarlet Kite's side still had a strong longing for Taihu."

Upon hearing this, Wang Yu vaguely guessed the other party's intentions. He felt a sense of disbelief.

The young woman then spoke with firm conviction. "Since Senior Sister Mu has already passed away, I will surely inherit her dying wish, rebuild the Demonic Asura Horde, and continue this endeavor. Fellow Daoist, you still possess a bottom line and have not been corrupted by this demonic realm, which is filled with slaughter and betrayal. I want to invite you to become a member of the new Demonic Asura Horde."

Just as he thought!

However, young lady, aren't you being a bit too frank with someone you barely know? Moreover, how could he possibly contribute to such an undertaking? In Scarlet Kite, good might outweigh evil among mortals, but among cultivators, including those at the lowest levels, while they might possess genuine emotions, their capacity for evil encompassed ninety percent. Even True Master Qingyang, whom Wang Yu trusted considerably, betrayed the Ink Sect Master who had appreciated him. Here, there was no one he could fully trust. Self-interest was the enduring theme of Scarlet Kite. He and the Taihu noblewoman had only met once and completed a transaction that was highly profitable for him. Did this mean she considered him, Wang, a good person? How strange.

"I apologize, but I, Zhuo, do not wish to participate in your ideals. Since this old demon was killed by you, he is your spoils of war. Let us part ways here."

"Wait—"

Wang Yu's expression hardened. Out of respect for the Heavenly Lightning Talisman Treasure, his attitude towards this person had always been quite friendly, but he was not someone without a temper. If she were to persist...

"Fellow Daoist Zhuo, I understand you cannot trust me for now. This is the new Demonic Asura Token I've prepared. I intend to continue operating in the territory of the Joyful Demon Sect. If you ever find yourself in a desperate situation in the future, you can come find me."

With that, she even abandoned the corpse of the Five Poisons Old Demon. After tossing out a jade token, she retreated into the dense forest and vanished.

Wang Yu hesitated for only a moment before putting it into his Sea Heart Ring. Having more friends opens up more paths. Although he wasn't optimistic about her cause, this connection could indeed be utilized. This was originally his view of Long Yiran. By a strange twist of fate, he had established such a peculiar relationship with a direct descendant of the Thunderfire Temple.

"Could it be that I truly possess some kind of 'good person aura'?"

After this self-doubt, he took the Five Poisons Old Demon's storage ring. From its style and markings, it was clearly not an artifact of this era, and its internal space was in no way inferior to a top-tier Sea Heart Ring. After tossing the corpse into the Nourishing Malice Coffin, Wang Yu inspected the items inside.

"So that's how it is."

This old demon indeed possessed an extraordinary legacy. It was also from an ancient hegemonic force, not of the same era as the Sky Soul Sect, but from an even earlier one: the Myriad Insect Sect! This sect was founded upon the Dao of Poison and the Dao of Gu. The legacy the Five Poisons Old Demon obtained was the Tier 4 Poison Art, 'The Five Poisons Scripture,' which contained over a thousand poison formulas, methods for cultivating poisonous insects, and thirty-six accompanying spell arts covering various aspects. There was also a Gu Dao Tier 3 cultivation method, 'Gu Mound Transformation Elixir Art,' which recorded numerous Gu insect cultivation techniques and some curse arts that used Gu as a medium. The Five Poisons Old Demon had not cultivated this method; he had merely learned the secret techniques and ordinary spell arts from it and raised some Gu insects. No wonder the intelligence from the Wind Listener Pavilion said that this demon excelled in the three paths of poison, Gu, and curses. It was a pity he didn't get to witness them.

It was a common consensus among cultivators in this realm that ancient legacies were more powerful than contemporary ones, partly due to the numerous historical disruptions. Aside from cultivation methods that even rogue cultivators could easily acquire, there was also a considerable haul of spirit stones: one hundred twenty thousand mid-grade spirit stones and over three hundred high-grade spirit stones. This wealth was no less than Gui Ling's annual income.

High-grade magic treasure: Five Poisons Silver Bell; mid-grade magic treasure: Snake Staff. The corpses of five tragically killed vital poisonous beasts, a small bag of Golden Core powder, various Gu insects, poisonous beasts… and miscellaneous items. These were incompatible with Wang Yu's practice and would mostly be sold off. However, the magic treasures could be kept, serving as capital for high-level transactions or for occasional use.

After cataloging everything, he took out the Five Poisons Old Demon's corpse again. Using the 'Core Extraction Hand' technique, he removed its Golden Core. After confirming that no hidden dangers remained, he put away the corpse. Should he refine another zombie? Wang Yu thought it wasn't a good idea. He had too many zombies on his hands, more than he could possibly use, and there was even a demonic corpse waiting to be born! With this much effort, it would be better to have a good closed-door cultivation session. Although the Five Poisons' corpse was of a high grade, its foundation was lacking. Judging by its state, it was clear that there had been a problem with its poison cultivation, which was a common issue for rogue cultivators: an unstable foundation. Even if they got lucky and obtained a Nascent Soul legacy, they would encounter various accidents due to their own lack of profound background and knowledge. Sometimes, even disciples from major factions couldn't avoid this, like Liu Jin, the Golden Immortal, who cultivated so intensely that he lost his nose. This corpse couldn't be refined into a special variant and wasn't worth Wang Yu's significant effort. He should just find an opportunity to sell it; there were plenty of demonic cultivators who would want it.

After dealing with these matters, Wang Yu continued towards Youzhou. He remembered that Youzhou was the territory of the Jinlin lineage. There was considerable animosity between them. If he 'accidentally' appeared in Youzhou, the other party might dispatch assassins to eliminate him, or they might simply ignore him. But Jin Miaoshan would certainly discover this through her spies. With Jinlin as a buffer, she might not suspect that he was the one who caused the disturbances at the Sky Soul Sect ruins.

That's the plan!

Several months later.

Youzhou, Gufang City.

This was a city not far from Zhuyue Province, possessing a Tier 3 low-grade spirit vein. Its city lord was a Core Formation cultivator from the Yellow Springs Temple.

At the Vegetarian Hall.

Wang, who had changed his appearance, transformed the Nether Ghost Mask into a half-mask, exposing his mouth and nose, allowing him to fully enjoy the delicious medicinal cuisine. He had been staying there for over a month. Besides cultivating and refining his own system, he was also inquiring about the latest developments from Zhuyue Province and the Spirit Reversal Blood Sect.

The former could be set aside for now. The latter, however, was quite eventful. Just a few days after he withdrew from the Sky Demon Bone Forest, the Spirit Reversal Blood Sect gathered a group of Nascent Soul Patriarchs and engaged in a major battle with the Blood Demon Medicine Kings. This battle was supposed to quickly suppress all chaos. However, two late-stage Nascent Soul grand cultivators from the Yellow Springs Temple suddenly appeared and forcibly seized the Blood Demon Ginseng from the Spirit Reversal Blood Sect. The Sacred Sect was furious as a result. Blood Nether Peak, the foremost of the nine peaks, sent out no less than three late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators: Blood Axe Demonic Lord, Blood Spring Demonic Lord, and Blood Essence Demonic Lord. These three brothers grew up together, forging innate blood spiritual roots using the Blood Spring Demonic Arts. At over 1,200 years old, they had cultivated to the eighth layer of the Nascent Soul stage and had the potential to break through to the Soul Transformation stage. They were also openly considered the strongest three among the Spirit Reversal Blood Sect's nine peaks.

After leaving their seclusion, the two sides first fought a battle at the ancient Sky Soul Sect ruins. The Yellow Springs Temple, being unprepared, suffered a crushing defeat! The ruins were completely taken over by the Spirit Reversal Blood Sect. Regarding the results of the battle, one Nascent Soul was captured alive, and the physical bodies of two other Nascent Souls were destroyed, leaving only their Nascent Souls to escape. The Blood Demon Ginseng was also reclaimed. The blood demon power contained within these Medicine Kings seemed to be very important to the Spirit Reversal Blood Sect; otherwise, they wouldn't have resorted to such extreme measures.

In response to this, the Yellow Springs Temple was also enraged, but they knew they had crossed the Spirit Reversal Blood Sect's taboo and dared not launch a full-scale war, lest other forces take advantage. So, they secretly engaged in covert external maneuvers in Zhuyue Province. Six of the nine city lords died at once, and the remaining three Sacred Sect city lords were also severely injured, suffering a crushing defeat. One side suffered a loss, but overall, the Spirit Reversal Blood Sect still profited. Consequently, the conflict in Zhuyue Province was suspended, and both sides entered a long negotiation phase once again.

All of this was what Wang Yu had gradually gathered during this period. There were certainly many undisclosed details hidden within. Especially regarding the handling of the ancient Sky Soul Sect ruins, and there was no follow-up on the poisonous beasts in the Sky Demon Bone Forest. What exactly happened was currently unknown. In any case, it had little to do with him; it was enough to simply be aware.

Aside from gathering information, he also made some minor gains in other areas. He had been frequenting the Sky Treasure Pavilion in Youzhou, visiting several cities, before finally collecting the spiritual herbs required for two Tier 3 elixir formulas. One of these could help his spiritual sense achieve another breakthrough. He was currently holding onto them.

After satisfying his long-awaited craving for good food, Wang Yu revealed a satisfied expression.

"So satisfying~"

(End of chapter)